Privacy Policy
Through the Bank's Web site, we strive to provide valuable information to you about how we may serve you.  Whether you are a valued existing customer or someone shopping for new bank services, we hope our site answers your questions about our products, services, hours, and locations.  This statement tells you what information we collect through our Web site, how we collect it, and how we use that information.

The Banks Privacy Policy 

The Bank understands that our customers are concerned about the privacy of their personal information.  We are publishing this privacy policy to reaffirm our commitment to you to maintain the privacy of the information with which you have entrusted us and to inform you of our practices concerning the collection and use of information, which you provide us. Your privacy always has been, continues to be, and always will be one of our most important concerns.  Not only does the Bank follow the letter and the spirit of federal and state laws, but we also attempt to follow our even stricter internal standards of customer privacy. These employee responsibilities are included in the employee code of conduct.  Employees who violate or fail to report a violation of our customer information privacy policy are subject to immediate disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.
Information technology is rapidly evolving. The Bank publishes information about its services in various print and electronic media, including Web-based formats.  We are continually adapting to changes in technology to bring our customers the information they need faster and more efficiently than ever before. The Bank pledges to its customers that it will not adopt any technology that forces it to compromise its total commitment to the privacy of its customer's records and information.

Links to Other Sites
To provide our customers with greater access to information that may be of interest to them, the Banks Web site contains links to other sites. Although the Bank hopes that these other organizations join us in respecting your privacy, the Farmers State Bank is not responsible for the content of those Web sites or the privacy practices of those organizations.

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Internet Privacy
When you visit our website to view any pages, read product information, or use our online calculators and tools, you do so without telling us who you are and without revealing any personal information.  While we do not collect identifying information about visitors to our site,  we do use standard software to collect information for the strict purpose of tracking activity on our site.  This allows us to better understand how many people use our site and which pages and features are most popular. The only information we normally collect and store is:

• The name of your Internet Service Provider;
• The website that referred you to us (if any);
• The date and time the pages were accessed; and
• The page or pages you requested.

There are instances where you may elect to provide us with personal information.  If you fill out one of our feedback or request forms or send us e-mail, you are transmitting the information that appears to you in the form or the message.  This will typically include information like your name, mailing address, e-mail address, the kind of request you are making, and any other information necessary to fulfill your request.  You never transfer personally identifying information that you do not enter yourself.  This is always your option; this information cannot be collected unless you specifically elect to send it to us. 

When you submit personally identifying information via one of our feedback or application forms, that information is also encrypted, or scrambled, by your browser before it is transmitted back to our website.  This effectively prevents anyone from intercepting and reading any personal information about you.  Note that this encryption does not take place if you send us e-mail, but only when you use your web browser with one of our site's forms or viewing your accounts through our site.  
Our website is not targeted or marketed to children.

Notice of Your Financial Privacy Rights
We, our, and us when used in this notice, mean Farmers State Bank.
This is our privacy notice for our customers.  When we use the words "you" and "your" we mean the following types of customers:
All of our consumer customers who have a continuing relationship by purchasing or holding financial products or services such as a(n):

• Deposit account
• Loan account
• Credit card account
• Safe deposit box
• Financial, investment, or economic advisory services
• Mortgage brokerage services
• All IRA accounts for which we act as custodian

We will tell you the sources of the information we collect on our customers.  We will tell you what measures we take to secure that information.
We will also tell you what information we share with other entities. We will explain what your rights are, and how you can exercise them.   If you share an account relationship with someone else, such as a joint account holder or co-borrower, we suggest that you share this information with such persons to ensure that each of you is aware of our  policy and your options.
We first define some terms.

        Nonpublic personal information means information about you that we collect in connection with providing a financial product or service to you.  Nonpublic personal information does not include information that is available from public sources, such as telephone directories or government records. Hereafter, we will use the term "information" to mean nonpublic personal information as defined in this section.

        An affiliate is a company we own or control, a company that owns or controls us, or a company that is owned or controlled by the same company that owns or controls us.  Ownership does not mean complete ownership, but means owning enough to have control.

        A nonaffiliated third party is a person we do not employ or a company that is not an affiliate of ours. This is also known as nonaffiliated third party, or simply, an "other party".

    Opt out means a choice you can make to prevent certain sharing of information.  We will explain how you can exercise this choice.

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THE INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT
We collect  information about you from the following sources:

• Information you give us on applications or other forms.
• Information about your transactions with us
• Information about your transactions with other parties
• Information from a consumer-reporting agency

The Confidentiality, Security and Integrity of Your Information
We restrict access to information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you.  We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect this information.

You're Information and Our Affiliates
We may disclose information about you to our affiliates.  Here are the kinds of information and the source of that information:

• Transaction and experience information from our account records:
• Information about your transactions and experience with us, such as:
• Name
• Address

Federal law allows us to disclose the information listed above with our affiliates.  You do not have a right to opt out of the disclosure of this information.
 
Types of Affiliates
We may disclose information about you to the following types of affiliates:

• Financial service providers, such as:
• Insurance Agents

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You're Information and Other Parties
In addition to our policy with respect to affiliates, we may disclose information to other parties.  Here are the kinds of information we disclose to these other parties:
Information you give us on an application or other forms, such as

• Name
• Address
• Social Security Number
• Assets
• Income

Information about your transactions with us, such as:

• Account balances
• Account activity
• Types of accounts
• Credit card usage
• Payment history
• Deposit history
• Parties to the transaction

Information we receive from a credit reporting agency , such as:

• Creditworthiness
• Credit history

You may opt out of the disclosure of the information listed above.

• Types of Other Parties

We may disclose information about you to the following types of other parties:

• Financial service providers, such as:
• Securities brokers-dealers

We may also disclose information about you the other parties as permitted by law.

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Information About Former Customers
We do not disclose information about former customers, except as permitted by law.

Authorized Sharing-Joint Marketing
We may disclose the following information to other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements:
Information you give us on an application or other forms, such as:

• Name
• Address

We disclose the information listed above with other financial institutions with which we have joint marketing agreements. You do not have a right to opt out of the disclosure of this information.

Types of Businesses
We may disclose information pursuant to joint marketing agreements to the following types of businesses:

Financial service providers, such as: Insurance agents
        
Limitations on Disclosure
Here are the limitations we impose on the use of information disclosed to other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements:
We do not allow telephone solicitations.

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You're Right to Block The Disclosure of Your Information
Other Parties. If you do not want us to share your information with other parties, you can block the release of certain information. This is known as your right to "opt out". 
 
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE in this notice, we have explained our policy about the disclosure of certain information.
Other Parties. We have explained the kinds of information we may disclose to other parties.  We have also explained the kinds of other parties with whom we may disclose the information.  If you prefer that we do not disclose information to these other parties, you may opt out of those disclosures, that is, you may direct us not to make those disclosures (other than the disclosures permitted by law).
Your decision to block the disclosure of your information will apply to information collected from all products and services you receive from us.
If you have obtained one or more products or services jointly, an opt out instruction by one party is effective for all information we have collected about all joint parties. If one of you chooses to opt out, no information about any of the joint parties will be shared.
If you previously sent us an opt out, then we will continue to apply your instruction to the information you asked us not to share. You do not need to return another opt out form.
If you wish to opt out of the disclosure of your information, you may do so by using any of the following methods:
Return to the following address:  Farmers State Bank, P.O. Box 499, Groesbeck, Texas 76642, correspondence indicating that you do not wish to share your information with non-affiliated third parties.
Call this number and ask for Lisa Swick (254-729-3272)
E-mail: webmaster@farmerstatebanktexas.com
Please do not send account or other personal information by this mail address.

Consumer Complaint Process
TEXAS NOTICE
The Farmers State Bank, Groesbeck, Texas is chartered, licensed, or registered under the laws of the State of Texas and by state law is subject to regulatory oversight by the Texas Department of Banking. Any consumer wishing to file a complaint against The Farmers State Bank, Groesbeck, Texas should contact the Texas Department of Banking through one of the means indicated below:  
In person or U.S. Mail:

2601 N. Lamar Boulevard, Suite 300
Austin, Texas 78705-4294
Telephone No.:877/276-5554
Fax No.:512/475-1313

E-mail: consumer.complaints@banking.state.tx.us
Please do not send account or other personal information by this mail address.
Website: www.banking.state.tx.us


 

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